Beach
by Krystal Lily Potter
Summary: She didn’t understand him. It was just a beach. A beach they saw every day, that was nothing special.


**Beach**

She didn't understand him. It was just a beach. A beach they saw every day, that was nothing special.

The clear, cool water lapped at the shore, slapping the sand gently before rolling back into the deep blue abyss it came from. The warm wind slowly flew through the palm trees, moving them only slightly. It was a warm day, but not overbearingly hot. It was the perfect day to go to the beach.

Which was why Sora shifted in his uncomfortable chair impatiently. He glared at the teacher lecturing the class in front of him. He half wanted to cast Stopga on the teacher just so he could slide out of the classroom and make his way to the paradise that was just out of reach.

"Sora," Kairi whispered harshly to him. She didn't need to whisper though because no one paid attention to this teacher so most of the class was talking loudly anyways.

"Yyyyyeeeessss?" He asked, stretched out the word.

"You should pay attention and stop daydreaming about the beach," she warned him. "I mean, it's there every day rain or shine. This particular class isn't going to happen again though, and it's really important."

"You say that every day," Sora teased as he glanced at the teacher. "Besides, I don't think he'd notice if I jumped up and started swinging my Keyblade around while clucking like a chicken."

Kairi's frown vanished as she giggled slightly before trying to lecture him.

"You laughed, I'm off the hook!" Sora said happily and then whooped loudly when the bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. A few people laughed at him as he jumped up and stretched before throwing his heavy backpack over his shoulder.

He held his hand out to Kairi, who eyed it skeptically before shrugging and taking it. He yanked her up and, only allowing her a second to put her books away and grab her bag, before yanking her out of the classroom.

"Sora," she laughed as he yanked her through the hall. "Where are we going?"

"Well—"

"Hey, lovebirds!"

Both turned a deep shade of red and let go of the other's hand as a few people tittered around them. Riku came out off the mass group of people, grinning at them in a way only Riku could pull off. "Where's the fire?"

"In the Chemistry lab where I accidentally let Roxas take control and in a tribute to Axel we set all the chemicals on fire," Sora answered sarcastically.

"Oh, ok. So we're running the other direction then?"

"You know it," Sora replied as they continued walking out of the school. "I'm glad school's over for the weekend! That means we don't have to do anything! We can just spend time on the beach doing anything that comes to our mind."

"I don't understand you," Kairi said while shaking her head. Sora shot her a curious look and she continued, "It's just that we see the beach everyday, we live on a beach! I love it too but it's nothing special. But you're almost obsessed with going to there Sora."

He grinned and put his hands behind his head and looking up at the cloudless, blue sky. He didn't reply, she didn't think he could, but that still didn't change the fact that he loved the beach to no end.

Eventually, everyone went their separate ways and went home, if only to relieve themselves of their itchy school uniforms. Kairi stared at hers as she threw it in her laundry basket, blushing slightly as she looked at the skirt. She remembered when she had gone to Sora's house to get him for their first day back to school, he had opened the door, took one glance at her and said that he loved the uniforms, or at least hers on her. She had never blushed so much, but he didn't seem embarrassed about that at all.

She threw on her pink dress with her white, hooded, halter top underneath and started out the door. No one else was home yet so she needn't bid anyone goodbye.

Leisurely, she made her way down onto the burning sand of the beach. She looked around before heading to the small dock that held the boats that belonged to her, Sora, Riku, Selphie, Wakka and Tidus. She noticed that one was already gone, and she had a strong suspicion of who it was.

When she rowed over to the play island she tied up her boat, glancing at the one beside it. She was right, only Sora would have gotten here that fast.

Kairi held her hands behind her back and slowly started walking, enjoying the fresh air. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. When she opened them she turned to scan the beach and finally she found what she was looking for: a large, dark lump laying on the sand in the distance. Sora was always easy to find. If he wasn't with her or Riku (or both), then he was asleep by the waves somewhere.

She tiptoed over to him, but saw his eyes snap open. She couldn't sneak up on him anymore, and that disappointed her slightly. His senses were to sharp from when he needed them to survive any Heartless or Nobody attacks. That thought made Kairi frown. She had never made him _promise_ not to change, she had just asked him, and it was a good thing she didn't. He had changed, painfully so. At first glance most people just thought he changed physically but was still the same goofy kid. Kairi knew better.

Sora stretched as he sat up, and a bright red blush appeared on Kairi's face when she realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt!

'_You know you like it,'_ Naminé whispered, giggling slightly.

Kairi eyed him as she approached him. Naminé would be silly like that at times, but she was wrong because…

Who was Kairi kidding? She thought Sora was hot and she wished he would walk around shirtless all the time. Or at least when they were alone. This was for only her to see and none of those other girls that flirted with him (but were completely ignored, much to her delight) had to right to see it.

"I knew I'd find you snoozing here you lazy bum," Kairi quipped playfully as she reached him.

Sora shrugged and grabbed her arm, yanking her to the ground along side him. He sighed contently before wrapping an arm around her. He laid back and cuddled her close to him, as if cuddling up to his favorite teddy bear.

Kairi blushed deeply before he muttered, "Tired." Her blush reddened a little more as his breath started trailing down her neck, causing her to shiver slightly as well.

"Then get up and do something," she said, trying to distract herself that Sora was holding her this close. No, a _shirtless_ Sora was holding her this close!

Sora backed away from her a bit and smiled slightly. He let out a yawn and sat up again, bringing her up with him. His sky blue eyes (not the normal, everyday sky blue, but the bright, rich sky blue that happened as it started to get darker) stared at the ocean fondly and Kairi couldn't stop the boiling, ugly feeling that started to rise in every fiber of her being.

"I hate the ocean," she said suddenly. She hadn't meant to say it aloud, but she had. "I hate the beach too."

Oh yes, how she loathed the ocean and the beach.

Sora blinked then said, "Well, you kind of live on a tropical island so looks like you're out of luck."

Kairi sighed and leaned back on the hot, white sand.

"Why do you hate the ocean and the beach?" he asked her.

"Why do you love it so much?" she replied. "You seem to daydream about being on the beach all the time. It's nothing special to us; we see it all the time. What would fascinate me is high mountains with snow covering them."

"Because this is where we belong," Sora said after a moment of thought. "The ocean that reflects the sky and meets the land…there's just so much symbolism in that alone when it comes to you, me and Riku."

"What?" Kairi asked, her eyebrows shooting up. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Sora gave her a confused look before he said, "The beach is just so calming, especially here. Over on the main island it's always so busy, but few people come over to this place. This is our island, and though some things may take us away from it, it's still ours." He sadly looked at the sand that seeped through his hand. "I love going to the beach everyday, but not just any beach, this one."

"But why?"

"Different worlds have beaches that are nearly identical," Sora said. "Port Royal and Atlantica, for instance, but I never enjoyed those beaches really. I like coming to this one because it's here. This beach still being here reminds me that I'm home…and that home is still here."

Suddenly everything clicked in Kairi's head. She sighed and said, "You're afraid that this island won't be here someday and that you'll need to leave."

"I will need to leave Kai," he replied. "We all know it, but as long as this beach is still here, then I know everything will be okay. I know that we'll always have a home to come back to."

"You and Riku, right?"

"No, _you_, me and Riku," he replied. "You have a Keyblade now, and besides, you can't seem to stay here without getting kidnapped anyways."

Kairi punched his arm but giggled happily all the same. Still, the burning jealousy that she felt earlier (_'Towards a beach,'_ Namine quipped dryly onto unhearing ears.) was still there. She understood what this place meant to him but still…

"What do you like the most about this beach?"

"The sounds, the smell," Sora answered wistfully. "It's all so familiar. The water here is unbelievably clean and the sights are amazing too. I also like how you can see how you, Riku and I are connected in nature."

"What are you talking about?" Kairi asked, half-amused half-curious.

"Did you ever hear about the ancient language people used to speak here?" he asked.

"I've heard of it, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."

Sora picked up some sand and said, "The ancient word for land is Riku." He dropped the sand into her hand as he said this. "And the ancient word for sky is Sora."

He yanked her off of the ground after jumping up and pulling her to the edge of the water. "And the ancient word for ocean is Kai, and everyone knows that Kairi is just a variant of it. So Sora's the sky, Riku's the land and Kairi's the ocean." He pointed to the place where the waves lapped against the shore, reflecting the sky. "You, Riku and I in nature."

Kairi stared at her reflection but couldn't help but notice Sora's sad expression. She looked up at him as he said, "The sky is detached from both the land and the sea, which meet constantly. Always destined to watch the ocean and the land connect."

"Oh Sora," Kairi said as she wrapped her arms around him tightly, still flushing lightly at the contact of her bare arms around his bare waist. "But it's like you said earlier, the ocean touches the land and then rushes away, but the ocean always reflects the sky."

She looked up into his eyes and ocean blue met sky blue. They stared at one another before Kairi said, "I still hate the beach."

"Why?"

"Because you love it so much." Kairi hadn't meant to say it. In fact she didn't say it. The words came from her lips, but the voice didn't belong to her.

Sora felt a strong feeling of affection rush through him at the voice, and he knew it didn't really belong to him. He tilted his head, almost amused as he said, "You're jealous of the beach?"

"What? No! I…"

Sora laughed happily as he hugged her tightly and said, "Why would you? The beach has nothing on you Kai."

"But you were just going on about how beautiful it is, and how calming and how—"

"You're all those things, and more," Sora said as he rested his head on the top of hers and sighed happily. "God, I love you Kairi."

She felt her heart leap up and start beating frantically. She wanted to look into his eyes but all she could see was his neck and shoulders as he hugged her close. Instead, she cuddled up to him as close as she possibly could and rested her ear over his heart, listening to its constant, confident beating.

"I love you too Sora," Kairi whispered.

"That's good, because I wasn't going to let any of those other guys near you anyways."

Kairi giggled and nuzzled her head against his neck, causing him to laugh and jerk away quickly. She stared at him with a puzzled look before remembering that Sora had an extremely sensitive spot in the crook of his neck where, in tickle fights, if she could get that spot, he was down.

She laughed happily and threw herself at him again, but she didn't count on gravity making a huge impact, especially because of how small she was. Sora fell backwards onto the sand and Kairi fell on top of him.

At first Sora was winded, but then his face turned red before he started laughing. Kairi stared at him oddly for a moment, but his laughter was contagious. Soon the beach was filled with their happy laughs. It too was a sound long associated with that island, a sound that, years after they passed on, would still be heard lingering on the island.

For now though, the two young adults were content on their beach as long as the other was there.

Sora moved his hands so that they were on her lower back, causing her to stop laughing and stare down at him with a flushing face. Sora grinned at her before leaning up and capturing her lips with his own.

Kairi felt her heart soar at his touch, soar towards the sky…towards Sora. They broke away from one another for only a moment before kissing each other again, and again, and again.

They only stopped when laughter reached their ears as Riku's voice called out, "So _this_ is what you do when no one else is around."

Kairi quickly pulled away from Sora and looked around at Riku, who had a huge smirk across his face. She would have been okay if it were only Riku there (well, she would have been only a tiny bit embarrassed that is), but she was mortified to see a laughing Selphie, Tidus and Wakka there as well.

Kairi jumped off of Sora and her ocean-blue eyes met the older boy's earth-green eyes as she punch him in the arm. Touching then retreating. She then turned around as Sora came up behind her and grinned at him. This time ocean-blue eyes reflected the affection that was shown in his sky-blue eyes.

Sora wrapped his arms around Kairi as she turned back to Riku, his chin resting on the top of her head as he said, "You're just jealous and a hater."

Riku laughed and said, "Yes, that's exactly it."

"Well then, looks like I'll have to beat you into the ground again," Sora said with a wide grin.

"Think you can skinny-boy?"

"I know I can because I have an advantage over yo-ou!" Sora said the last work in a singsong voice.

"Using your Nobody as an extra set of eyes is cheating," Riku said as he found the wooden swords.

"No it's not, because he's me and it's me fighting," Sora replied as he let go of Kairi and went to fight his friend. Always opposites, always at odds, even when getting along.

Kairi grinned widely as she sat on the sand, watching the two boys play-fighting.

Selphie sat beside her and, in a sly voice, said, "Well, seems like you were having fun before we showed up. And here was me thinking that you hated the beach."

Kairi glanced at the world around them, at the land that they sat on, then at the ocean, and then at the sky with a smile. She looked around, knowing that this place was home and as long as it was here, then things would be okay.

And things would be even better than okay if Sora continued to kiss her on this very beach.

Kairi smiled and said simply, "I love the beach."

**VVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Happy Birthday to RockCityRoadStar. See, I promised you I'd write a fic for your birthday since you insisted on giving me the entire countdown! That and it's almost like compensation on my part for you writing that fic for your friends birthday because I was creeped out by it too!

But all comments from everyone are appreciated!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


End file.
